Homes throughout Mississippi

Finding a place to call home, without having to give an arm and a leg...

If you come from a place where property is expensive and you look in a place like Mississippi with a wonderful selection of historic houses, from ante-bellum to Italianate, to Victorian and Craftsman, or even ranch styles from the fifties and sixties, you will be delighted just how far the home-buying dollar will go. This is not to say that everything in Mississippi is inexpensive, but you get a lot more for your dollar, even brand-new homes in the half-million-dollar range when you compare them with what a half-million will buy in places like California.

In researching Mississippi, one of the draws that brought me here was the possibility that I could afford to buy a house on my fixed retirement and SS income. I finally got to use my veteran's home-buying benefits as well. So, in this postcard from Mississippi, I hope to introduce you to some jaw-dropping real estate deals. If you find a house you really like, you should then research the town, and one of the best ways to do that is to use City-Data.com. It's one of the most useful starting points to find out about any town in the U.S.

I would dare to say that most home buyers want new, new, new! That's understandable you want a turn-key house. You might be interested in these houses in this post, anyway.

This home was built in 1843 and is located in Columbus, Mississippi for $195,000. It's 3,279 square feet and sits on 3/4 of an acre, and best of all it's a block from downtown. You can find much more about this house (with pictures) at Old House Dreams, and from there, you can also go to the realtor site.

It has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. Many of the period elements and rustic appeal are still visible in this house, though in other aspects, it is quite modern and comfortable.

This 1921 Italian Renaissance house is located in Vicksburg, Mississippi, just across the Mississippi River from Louisiana. Vicksburg is a historic town and is close to Jackson, Mississippi, the state's capital and largest city. This property is available for $179,900 and is 4,997 square feet. It's located in the historic Cherry Street, one of the most desirable locations in Vicksburg. You won't believe its grandeur and elegance. Few modern houses are as elegant or well built. Again, you can find much more about this house (with pictures) at Old House Dreams, and from there you can jump to the realtor's site. Even if your only a little bit curious, I urge you to click on Old House Dreams for a gander at its interior.

This next Italianate, built in 1876 is located in Senatobia, Mississippi. For highly detailed information about the town of Senatobia, Mississippi visit http://www.city-data.com. This house is 2,889 square feet with three bedroom and two baths. I have to admit that part of home ownership, beyond the turn-key modern houses that are not really built to last is working on an old house to bring some of its original charm back. We all know there was the great American whiteout in the 1960s, when women all over America followed the lead of Jackie Kennedy and painted all the original wood-work in these old houses white. This house has a lot of untouched, original elements, however and would make living here a lot more fun and satisfying.

This house is a classical Revival Style built in 1899 and is located in Canton, Mississippi. This house has a soaring entrance and an untouched staircase that will make you feel that you have stepped into an opulent home, and it can be bought for $199,900. At 6,072 square feet, that's only $33/per square foot. A new home in even Las Cruces, New Mexico, where I come from is well over $100 a square foot, and again, you get so much more for your money on a house like this. After all, it has 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. You can view it in more detail, here.

While the houses I have chosen to show, here, are impressive, they are only a fraction of historic homes that are available throughout Mississippi. This post is a hat's off to Old House Dreams and the work that the blogger there does. You can spend hours and hours looking at stunning homes from all over the country, but Mississippi homes hold up very well in comparison to elsewhere. It wasn't really a hard decision for me to decide on hot, humid summers over snow and blizzards and bone-cracking cold in states farther north. Nor are utilities nearly as high to cool down a house than they are to heat them with expensive heating oil in the north!

But another advantage to home ownership in Mississippi, but especially for seniors over age 65, is that you don't even pay property taxes on the first $75,000 of value of your home. I will owe almost zero in property taxes because I paid less than $75,000 for it. While it appraised for a little more than that, it is nothing compared to the high property taxes in the northeastern states or California and other states.